Theresa Harris

Theresa Harris December 31 1906 some sources indicate 1909 October 8 1985 was an American film and television actress singer and dancer In 1929 Harris traveled to Hollywood where she embarked on an acting career She made her film debut in Thunderbolt singing the song Daddy Wont You Please Come Home As she entered the 1930s she found herself playing maids to fictitious Southern belles socialites and female molls These parts were sometimes uncredited She also floated around studios doing bit parts usually at Warner Bros or MGM Aside from maids she specialized in playing blues singers waitresses tribal women prostitutes and hatcheck girls Harris had a featured role as a friend of Jean Harlow in MGMs Hold Your Man 1932 In 1933 she appeared as Chico in the Warner Bros preCode production of Baby Face starring Barbara Stanwyck That same year Harris starred in a substantial role opposite Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart As Rogers characters maid Harris character subs for Rogers character as a singer on the radio Despite the fact that Harris character was a major point for the storys plot development she was uncredited for the role Throughout the 1930s Harris played many uncredited parts in films such as Horse Feathers 1932 Gold Diggers of 1933 1933 Mary Stevens MD 1933 and Morning Glory 1933 She also played Bette Daviss maid Zette in the film Jezebel 1938 In 1937 she appeared in the race film Bargain With Bullets opposite Ralph Cooper for Million Dollar Productions While doing promotion for the film Harris spoke about her frustration over the difficulty African American actors faced in the film industry stating I never had the chance to rise about the role of maid in Hollywood movies My color was against me anyway you looked at it The fact that I was not hot stamped me either as uppity or relegated me to the eternal role of stooge or servantMy ambition is to be an actress Hollywood had no parts for me Harris continued to lobby for better parts but found few opportunities within Hollywood In the 1939 movie Tell No Tales she was credited for her part as Ruby the wife of a murdered man Harris played an emotional scene with Melvin Douglas at the funeral She appears in a small but vivid role as Kathie Moffats exmaid Eunice Leonard in Jacques Tourneur 1947 Out of the Past In addition to films Harris performed in many radio programs She was often paired with Eddie Rochester Anderson who portrayed her onscreen boyfriend She also appeared in several prominent roles for RKO Pictures as she was a favorite of RKO producer Val Lewton who routinely cast African American actors in nonstereotypical roles In 1942 Lewton cast Harris as a sarcastic waitress in Cat People followed by roles in I Walked with a Zombie 1943 Phantom Lady 1944 and Strange Illusion 1945 During the 1950s Harris appeared several times on television shows She made her last film appearance in an uncredited role in The Gift of Love in 1958 Harris later married a doctor and retired from acting living comfortably after having carefully invested the money she made during her career in the movies On October 8 1985 Harris then known as Theresa Robinson died in Inglewood California From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia